Flexible razors have evolved to address user needs during shaving, especially in improving conformity to skin contours. Such improved conformity to skin contours is desired particularly when trying to shave highly contoured surface areas of the body, e.g., legs, arms, armpits, and face. By contrast, lack of good conformity to skin contours must be compensated for by an application of shaver pressure to flatten the skin and force conformity, which on occasion causes cuts and abrasions.
The prior art includes various approaches to construct flexible razors. For instance, one approach is to use a plurality of individual blades that are connected to a handle by a resilient connecting means. Yet another approach is to mount a plurality of cutting elements on a flexible base material. Such, flexibility is provided by separate flexible carriers, e.g., the resilient connecting means which holds the individual blades, and the flexible base material on which the cutting elements are mounted, whereas either the blades or cutting elements per se are rigid. However, the rigidity of the blades or cutting elements limits the responsiveness and conformity to skin contours. Moreover, the requirement for a separate flexible carrier limits the diversity of razor designs, particularly cartridge and handle designs.
Thus, there is a need for a razor, in particular a razor blade unit, which provides improved conformity to skin contours.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a razor blade unit that shaves skin contours efficiently, e.g., an effective shaving for highly contoured surface areas of the body, less time-consuming during shaving, or one shaving stroke for wider surface areas of the body.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a razor blade unit that provides a comfortable and safe shaving experience to users.
It is yet another advantage of the present invention to provide a razor blade unit that is applicable to a wide variety of razor designs, particularly cartridge and handle designs, i.e., a flexible razor blade unit that does not require a separate flexible carrier.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide a razor blade unit that is easier to manufacture, e.g., having a relatively simple structure or less amounts of structural components.